Stowage systems, such as those used in the back of pick-up trucks, are useful for those who wish to carry many relatively small items, such as tools. The stowage system tends to prevent the tools from sliding around in the back of the truck, which acts to protect not only the tools, but the bed of the truck as well. Further, because the stowage system typically hangs above the bed of the truck, it does not prevent all alternate beneficial use of the truck bed, such as loading flat objects like plywood and sheetrock beneath the stowage system.
The varying designs of stowage systems tend to emphasize either one of two different design considerations: portability or security. Those stowage systems which emphasize portability allow for removal of the bin or box which contains the tools from the truck. This can be done by making a simple release mechanism which attaches the bin to the truck. If attached in such a fashion, the bin can be relatively easily removed, either by the owner, or by anyone else who desires to remove the tool box, such as a thief. Thus, such a system generally lacks much in the way of security. However, in addition to the portability afforded by such a stowage system, the portable design systems also allow the bed of the truck to be used in other ways, as the stowage system may be relatively easily removed from the truck.
Those stowage systems which emphasize security in their design typically do not provide any practical method for removing the box from the truck. The box can be bolted or otherwise securely attached to the truck, and the operative ends of such attachments can be located in relatively inaccessible positions, such as inside of the box itself, or inside the body of the truck. These boxes tend to have no practical method for their removal short of completely disassembling the stowage system in the same manner in which it was attached to the truck. Thus, while these systems tend to be quite secure, they do not provide the convenience of portability afforded by the portable design systems. Additionally, the secure design systems tend to restrict the use of the bed of the truck, as the stowage system cannot be readily removed to allow something else to be placed in the bed of the truck, such as a full load of sand or large items.
Both systems tend to suffer from an inability to adapt to different uses of the bed of the truck. For example, the portable design stowage systems tend to have the tool box in the same location whenever it is attached to the bed of the truck. The secure design systems provide very little convenient ability to place the tool box in more than one location. Thus, while having the tool box directly behind the cab of the truck may be the most convenient location for the tool box when the stowage system is installed, it may be more convenient at a later point in time to have the tool box located adjacent the tail gate, or along one side of the truck.
What is needed, therefore, is a stowage system that is readily removable from the bed of the truck, thus allowing for portability of the bin and enhanced use of the truck, and which provides a sufficient level of security to the items which are stored within the bins of the system, yet also allows for convenience placement of the bin in different locations in the bed of the truck.